


Little Bear and Great Bear

by h0emo



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Everyone is a bit gay, F/F, Goodfoe, Kinda slowburn but not really, Shoni - Freeform, leatin, mega gay for each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28779957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h0emo/pseuds/h0emo
Summary: Toni (the snowboarder) collides with Shelby (a skier) and has to treat her injuries
Relationships: Fatin Jadmani/Leah Rilke, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 10
Kudos: 171





	Little Bear and Great Bear

**Author's Note:**

> LeahxFatin are a side ship main focus is on ShelbyxToni  
> Some canon elements to it but a fair chunk is non-canon  
> Suicide/conversion therapy TW but it is specified at the correct paragraph

It’s all in 3rd person but focus shifts slightly when I say POV it just means it’s more focussed on that character.

**Toni’s POV**

“Toni!” Martha’s cry was the last thing that Toni heard before the intense ringing in her ear. She could feel a strong pounding that took over her left temple down to her left knee and the contact of the right side of her with the snow, thankfully the temperature slightly muted due to the huge coat the others had insisted on her wearing. Despite the intense pain, she managed to spring herself up, feeling the anger rising to consume her. The sudden movement caused her vision to blur slightly and she let out a constant stream of curses. She could just about make out that the girl was lying on her back and a stream of red was running from her cheek. Blood. And when her vision refocussed she could properly take in the person sprawled all on the floor.  _ Shit,  _ she thought, _ just had to fuck up the prettiest girl’s face. _ Toni had seen her fair share of injuries, not only hers but others, to know that she wasn’t cut too deep. 

“Shit I’m sorry I didn’t even notice you were bleeding. Fuck. I think there’s a cabin here somewhere with some first aid. Can you stand up?” She was taken aback with how concerned she was for this girl. A slight smirk played on her lips as she spoke her first words to Toni. “Snowboarders, god. You guys never seem to take into consideration that other people wanna be here. So reckless.” With that, Toni’s defences suddenly came up.

“You were clearly the reckless one, going too fast,” Toni knew that she was definitely not looking where she was going, but there was no way that she was going to admit that to a stranger. “You skied right across my path, you should’ve been paying at-”

“Woah,” the stranger interrupted, still with that stupidly cute smirk and a dry laugh. “Learn to take a joke, soldier.” Toni’s body relaxed at the laugh, she cursed herself for it. She guiltily bit her lower lip and looked away. “So, how about that cabin?”

The resort was clearly understaffed, the first aid cabin simply labelled:  _ treat your own injuries. _

Great. She was going to have to rely solely on the first aid she had acquired years back, at high school. “So we’re probably just gonna have to clean it up ourselves.” The lack of response made her turn around. The stranger was looking at a notice board. Toni cleared her throat, an attempt to get her attention. Her head snapped around, the sorry excuse of an ice pack was still held to her cut. “Sorry. I - uh - just didn’t get your name earlier.” She turned her head back to the board.

“Shelby,” she said “this place is so outdated. I mean these leaflets are advertising vacations from the 90s.” Changing the subject, she traced a gentle thumb over the papers, as if they would fall apart if she put the slightest amount of pressure on them.

"Listen as much as I love staring at ancient advertising, your cut's gonna get infected if we don't treat it." 

"We?" she asked quizzically. " **You** messed my face up so  **you** have to treat it." Her air of confidence made something in the deep pits of Toni's stomach ripple slightly. 

"Whatever," she brushed it off "I don't think infections care about whose fault it was."

A small silence washed over the pair, a sort of agreement. 

"Yours?" she asked

"What?" Toni replied

"Your name. I didn't get it either."

Oh right. It's Toni. Next time talk like a normal human being and reintroduce a new topic of conversation."

"Ah, you see. But then I wouldn't get to see the cogs in your cute little brain whirring trying to understand what in god's name I'm on about." 

Toni froze in her space. Did she just-? But Shelby gave her no time to process anything.

“Come on then. Let’s go sort me out.”

Before she even had a good look at her wound, Toni had already been handed pretty much everything in the kit. “I thought  **I** was supposed to be the one treating you,” Toni’s smirk was an attempt to salvage the horrible mess of flirting she had just performed and was rewarded with an equally smug one of Shelby’s, causing her to subconsciously flick between her lips and eyes.

“Oh yeah, that’s just to set you up. Now I’m just gonna lie here and you’re gonna have to do everything to me.” Toni’s smirk fell and her jaw was left open. Was Shelby doing this on purpose? I mean she looked like the epitome of a Texan, Christian, Poster Child but the things she was saying, who knew? 

Toni took out an antiseptic wipe to try and stop the infection that was probably inevitable at this point. She leaned forward and, with more patience she had ever had in her life, gently dabbed at the gash. Shelby winced slightly at the contact. Toni muttered a quiet apology to be responded with Shelby’s equally quiet reassurance. The bleeding had stopped but some blood had clotted and crusted around the cut that Toni wiped away. 

“How does that feel? Better?” Toni asked anxiously.

“Yeah,” Shelby smiled “messed up my face real bad I’m sure.”

“Sorry about that one, “ Toni’s top teeth sunk into her bottom lip sheepishly and giggled slightly “better your face than mine though I guess.”

“Oh, 100%. Don’t wanna go around messing up a pretty face like that do we?” Her recognisably southern lilt caused Toni to go weak at the knees. If she wasn’t supporting her weight on the cabin’s wall, she was sure she would’ve fallen right then and there. Without even realising she was doing it, Toni had leant forward, an attempt to shorten the distance between the 2 of them.

Shelby merely flicked her gaze between Toni’s lips and eyes, that same damn smirk playing on her lips. With a slight chuckle, she reciprocated but kept a tiny distance between their 2 mouths, hearing Toni’s laboured breaths while Toni could practically  _ taste _ Shelby’s lips on her own. Toni moved closer, to fully close the gap between the 2, but without warning, the front door of the cabin flew open, a figure obscuring the doorframe. They pulled away only to realise that they both recognised the person.

Toni’s call of “Dot?” drowned out by Shelby’s own of “Dottie?” They looked at each other quizzically as if to say  _ how do you know her?  _ Dot practically launched herself at Shelby, not even realising Toni was stood right next to her. “Fuck, are you okay?” Her gaze briefly flicked at Toni before reverting to Shelby’s now cleaned up wound. After she had focussed on Shelby for a second, she looked back at Toni, recognising her and her gaze softened. 

“Of course it had to be you, Toni,” she looked back at Shelby “y’know when Nora told me you had a collision with a reckless snowboarder, I did get the feeling that it might’ve been you.”

“That’s bullshit, Dot!” Toni piped up “You didn’t even know that I was coming here!”

Shelby moved away from Dot’s touch slightly “So… how do you guys know each other?”

“Well, Toni,” Dot smirked, “you wanna tell her the story or should I?”

Toni rolled her eyes “Dot pulled me out of a fight,” Toni mumbled.

“Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Do you mind repeating it for me?”

“Dot pulled me away from getting into a fight with this guy,” she said louder

“And would you remind describing this guy for me? Maybe his height? Build?”

“He was probably well over 6ft and built like Dwayne fucking Johnson,” Shelby looked taken back and confused, “What about you 2? How do you know each other?”

“Well you see-” Dot started, slowly.

“School,” Shelby cut in, glaring at Dot as if to tell her to  _ be quiet _ “Just. School.”

She could sense that something was up between them, Shelby was covering for something or someone, but Toni decided to ignore it.

“Anyways,” she stood up, “I should probably get going. They’ll probably be worried about me.”

“Yeah,” Shelby said “Probably a good idea.” They gave each other a brief smile before Toni closed the door, leaving Shelby with Dot, just hoping that she hadn’t seen too much.

**Shelby’s POV**

`She walked around to the bottom of the ski lift, waiting anxiously for the next car. She had been so inside her own head about what happened yesterday with that girl - Toni - that she didn’t even process that she had missed the car. The 3 people behind her gave her a strange look and overtook her with mutterings of  _ why wait in the queue if you’re not even gonna get on the lift _ . It shook her back into reality enough to notice that the next car wasn’t too far behind the last. She positioned herself on the far right of it in order to make it easier for the 2 strangers that were going on it with her. Strangers. At least that’s what she thought. Turns out that’s not quite how the universe works. Her eyes latched onto familiar brown ones for a brief second, before she broke the eye contact.

“Well you guys look like you might’ve met each other,” the stranger said, “And judging by that gash on your cheek I’m going to assume that you were the poor soul that Toni crashed into yesterday.” Shelby smiled slightly and instinctively raised a hand to the cut.

“Looking good by the way,” Toni said, to be responded with Shelby’s shocked face “The cut I mean. Don’t think it’s infected.”

“Yeah, I guess ‘inevitable infection’ isn’t as inevitable as you thought,” Shelby joked.

“You hear that Toni? You’re not good at everything!” she said loudly causing Toni to glare at her.

“I’m Fatin by the way,” she said, then pointed a finger between her and Toni "Roommates, if you catch my drift," Fatin winked at Shelby. 

"Oh," Shelby said "yeah cool," Fatin's gaze shifted between her and Toni a couple of times as if she was testing the waters. 

"I'm just kidding," she let out a dry laugh "she's my fiancée’s old roommate I would never…" Fatin drifted off, seeing Toni's jaw clench and glare at her. 

The conversation for the rest of the lift was pretty one-sided, mainly Fatin just talking with Shelby and Toni chipping in here and there.

"There's supposed to be a party/bonfire kind of thing this evening,” Fatin said. Shelby nodded at her. “That’s usually how people invite others to a party. So, are you gonna be there?”

“Um,” she looked over at Toni for a hint of a reaction, “I’m not too sure if I can, I might have to-”

“Shelb, you should,” Shelby’s heart fluttered slightly at the nickname “It’ll be fun, I promise.”

She took a moment to think it over. “Okay, fine. But how am I meant to find it?”

“There’s going to be a bonfire,” Fatin said, “I think you’ll find it just fine.”

“See you there,” Toni said, and Shelby reciprocated.

**Toni’s POV**

After they left the lift car, Fatin smirked at Toni. “You guys kissed, huh?”

Toni glared at Fatin before looking around and making sure that Shelby was out of earshot.

“Not exactly,” Toni started, anticipating Fatin’s slight squeal of excitement, “We were about to but Dot walked in on us. Is it that obvious?”

“Maybe not to others but for me? Please, I know sexual tension when I see it. But don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.” she said.

“Which means you’ll definitely be telling Leah when we get back to the cabin,”

“Oh come on! She’s basically my wife  **[A/N yes I said Leatin rights]** I have to tell her. She’s pretty much me anyway and I swear she won’t tell a soul,” Fatin said, giving Toni puppy eyes.

“Fine. But I need you to promise that Martha won’t find out. Something seems off with Shelby and I don’t want to go around telling everyone about it, just in case.”

Toni held both shirts against each herself, trying to find which was the best one for the party. Leah’s head snapped around the doorframe. “Trying to impress a certain blonde Texan are we?”

“She already told you?” Toni chuckled, “I make that a record, and a full-blown character description too? Impressive.” She walked further into Toni’s room.

“You know Fatin. She couldn’t keep a secret from me to save my life,” Leah twisted the gold band with a modest diamond in the centre around her left ring finger and smiled.

“Even the engagement?” Toni sounded surprised. She knew Fatin was awful at lying to Leah but an engagement seemed like something she should’ve kept from her. 

“Of course. She had planned this whole elaborate trip but she accidentally slipped and told me while I was packing. She proposed to me then so I guess we decided to have that trip as a celebration and th-”

“Then you proposed to me,” Fatin walked into the room, “The ring was supposed to arrive at the resort so you used a ring pop. Sorry, I just heard you guys talking about me, had to interrupt.”

She greeted her fiancée with a short peck, conscious that Toni was in the room with them.

“Gross,” Toni joked “You just had to be the grossest couple in existence, didn’t you?”

“Well my dear child,” Leah and Toni both rolled their eyes at her, “that could be you and little miss Texas if you go with the…” Fatin glanced between Toni’s 2 shirts, “green one. It’s in our room, I stole it.”

“Of course you did.”

“Well,” Fatin said, “Stop standing around. Get that shirt and make yourself look pretty."

"Not that you don't already look pretty," Leah reassured. 

"Yeah, whatever. Just make sure you don't smell like shit please."

Toni rolled her eyes at the pair again, smiling.

**Shelby’s POV**

Shelby had originally heard that there was supposed to be a party from Dot but she wasn’t really big on the whole party scene. Sure she used to go when she was a teenager, but those 5 years post-high school changed her, made her more herself. She never particularly enjoyed parties but in a way she had to go. Even if she didn’t want to go, Andrew would always drag her to it, talking about reputation this, reputation that. A lot had changed since then.

But the thing that made her want to go to a party for the first time in years, was Toni. Something about her just made Shelby drawn to her, but it wasn’t purely a sexual tension or attraction. There was something about her. The way her jaw clenched when she got defensive; how she always idly fiddled with her fingers when she was bored or nervous; the way not only her gaze but her whole demeanour softened when she was relaxed.  _ What is wrong with me?  _ She thought. She had had flings here and there since high school, short ones. But she hadn’t felt like this since… Well, since Becca. Becca. She smiled slightly at the girl’s name. Shelby had only recently been able to fully process what happened, even though it was still a sensitive subject. She had talked to Dot about it a few times and despite her only knowing the broad strokes of what happened, she had been there to support her. Every time. Just as she felt herself getting emotional, there was a slight tap on the collar of her shirt and she quickly snapped around, expecting the worse. It was Toni. She let out a long breath, one of relief, at the sight of her. “Hey, you,” Shelby said, with a small smile.

“Hey to you too,” Toni replied, “I don’t know about you, but this party’s kinda boring. Wanna get out of here?” Shelby smirked with a slight nod.

“C’mon Toni, at least tell me where you’re taking me,” Shelby said, faking a slight annoyance.

“No!” Toni exclaimed, “The whole point of surprising someone is so that it’s a surprise! We’re nearly there anyway, you just need to go up this ladder,”

“Up? A ladder? Blindfolded?” Shelby replied incredulously, “Toni, I don’t know if you know what blindfolded means. I have no sight! How am I supposed to go up a ladder without sight?”

“You’re so dramatic,” Toni rolled her eyes, “Just hold my hand and I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Fine. But if you fuck me over, I will sue you,” Shelby heard Toni mutter something under her breath. “What was that?” She asked cockily.

“Nothing,” she could practically feel the embarrassment dripping off of Toni’s reply.

“Okay you can take off that blindfold thing now,” Toni said, “We’re here,”

Shelby untied the makeshift blindfold, “Thank god, now I can put my hair up again,” Toni gave her the puppy dog eyes. Shit. She was done for, she knew it, but she had to keep her cool.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing. You just look really cute with your hair down,” Toni said. Shelby paused for a few seconds before tying it around her wrist. Toni smiled at the action.

“Just for you,” Shelby said, with an exaggerated wink making Toni roll her eyes.

It was dark outside, and you could see the stars and all the little pictures they made, each one a different story. They spent what must’ve been hours on the top of that cabin roof just talking about anything and everything that came to mind. 

“And that one over there? That’s the little bear and the one next to it is the great bear,” Toni said, pointing them out in the sky, “Let me guess, you know this story too?” she joked.

“Yeah, I guess I do, at least I think so,” Shelby giggled. Toni fell silent, as though she were the audience which technically, she was. “Well, the story goes that in order to protect one of his many girlfriends from Hera, Zeus turned her into a bear. But this girlfriend’s son was a hunter so when he hunted this bear and killed it, he realised this was his mother. Zeus turned them into constellations. Her name was-”

“Castillo. She was Ursa Major and the son, Arcas, was Ursa Minor.” Shelby looked at her quizzically. “How do you know that? I thought you hated all things stars?”

“Fatin’s a bit of a fan of them, unfortunately, that’s why I know all of these constellations. And I guess I have a knack for remembering pointless information.”

“I don’t think it’s pointless,” Shelby looked at her dreamily.

“Of course now it’s not. I can use it to impress pretty girls who seem to know a worrying amount about greek mythology,” Toni said

“How do you know so much anyway?” Toni said. Shelby’s gaze dropped instantly, “You don’t have to tell me you know. Not if you don’t want to.”

“No. I should, I want to. It’s just kind of difficult.”

“Take all the time you need,” Toni reassured her.

“Well,” Shelby let out a humourless laugh, “My ex- well I guess she was my best friend, she loved all of that stuff. Myths and legends. All of that.”

“Tell me about her,” Toni’s ears perked up.

“It feels weird talking about exes on a 1st date,” Shelby winced, “maybe I shouldn’t.”

“So this is a date then?” Toni lightened the mood, leaving Shelby speechless. “But honestly, if you’re comfortable, tell me about her.”

Shelby let out a shaky breath. “Where do I even start?”

“Try her name first.”

“Becca. Her name was Becca. We had been best friends for years but right about maybe sophomore year, I started to realise that I had feelings for her. Everything in my brain told me it was wrong, that it was sinful. But how could something so pure and innocent be something so shameful? I didn’t understand so I held onto it for a year or so. I couldn’t hold onto something like that forever though, I was only 16. One night when we were together when we were juniors, I couldn’t hold back, so I kissed her. Just after we pulled back, my dad walked in. He didn’t see anything thankfully but I was so terrified he did. After we ate dinner, we went on a car ride and just talked it all out. We must’ve been there for hours. I mean we both grew up in Texas and my dad was, still is I think, a pastor, so we had to keep it really quiet. Nobody could know.”

**TW // MENTION OF SUICIDE AND CONVERSION THERAPY**

“We kept that up for a year, but about halfway through our senior year, someone caught us. Well, in their eyes, they caught Becca with a girl. They didn’t see my face. But they told her parents about it and she got sent away. She left at Christmas and came back in about April. 4 months she was away. The only way I could speak to her was through letters, ones she could easily be punished for if she got caught. She faked her way through those 4 months, she told me, but when we met again, secretly obviously, she was damaged. The spark had left her eyes, I could tell. We thought we only had the summer to go. We planned to go to the same college. We got caught. Again. Our parents didn’t think conversion therapy was good, we were supposed to be going to college in a month, so they isolated us. Not just from each other, but everybody. Letters again. This time my brother and her brother risked themselves for us and I'll forever be grateful. They would meet and exchange our letters. But then one day, he gave me a letter and said that he was sorry. I was so confused. The letter was like most of them until the end. I can still see her handwriting,  _ i love you shelby, and I'm so sorry. I'll see you in heaven, shelb." _

**END OF TW**

"Fuck, Shelby." Toni said, "I'm so sorry."

"She was gonna study classics. That's how she knew all that." Shelby replied, with wet eyes.

"And that's how you met Dot?" she looked at Toni confused. "I know enough about Dot to know she's the best person when dealing with grief," Shelby smiled at the thought of Dot.

“Yeah,” she said, “Dot was my roommate and helped me through so much.”

“Well from how she talks about you, you got her through some shit too,” Toni smiled, making eye contact. “What about your family?”

“College was far away from home enough to stay out of contact. I managed to get a partial scholarship anyway so the loans weren’t too bad. Haven’t talked to my dad in years, but as far as my mom goes, I just feel bad for her. Some nights I would hear them arguing about me. She wanted to let me out, and she risked herself too. She was able to send me some money whilst I was in college to save for afterwards. As far as my siblings go, I’ve invited my brother to live with me just while he sorts himself out after college. My sister’s in high school right now but as soon as she’s out, I’ll invite her.” Toni looked at her confused, “My dad put a non-official restraining order against me ‘to protect the family’ but as soon as she leaves I can contact her.”

“You’re really something, Shelb, you know that right?” Toni said, “Shit can I call you that? I just don’t wanna overstep any bound-”

“Toni,” Shelby chuckled, “It’s fine.” She shivered slightly, only now realising how cold it was.

“Oh wait,” Toni took her jacket off, “Here. Have it.”

“Are you sure?” Shelby asked to be answered by Toni nodding enthusiastically, “Vintage.” she joked.

“It was my mom’s. She wore it when she was younger than us probably.” Shelby looked at Toni.

“Maybe a different night,” Toni said, reading her mind. 

  
  


They made eye contact and just looked at each other for probably a few minutes, just really taking each other in. Toni shifted so that she was facing Shelby. Shelby shifted as well before she leant into Toni, wanting to feel her lips on her own. It was quick before Toni pulled, a sincere look in her eyes. “Are you sure?” Shelby smiled slightly and leaned in again for another short kiss. “I’m sure.” 

She held their foreheads together for a small moment. “God, you’re going to be the death of me,” Toni said. Shelby smiled, wider this time, “Just kiss me already.” They closed the gap again, this one holding for longer than the previous 2. It felt somehow slow, yet desperate. Chaste, yet passionate. Calm, yet electric. Their lips moving against each other’s almost hypnotically, as though rehearsed. Shelby’s hands gently supporting either side of Toni’s face, her thumb and forefinger resting just in front of her ear. She chuckled as Toni struggled to find a place to rest her own hands but settling on her right hand tenderly caressing Shelby’s scar, and her left holding her waist. Suddenly, Shelby realised she didn’t need the coat that she had needed not a few seconds ago. She felt Toni’s tongue tease slightly at her lips. Just as she allowed access, she heard a voice calling Toni’s name, recognisably Fatin’s. Toni groaned slightly into Shelby’s mouth, making the butterflies in Shelby’s stomach go crazy, but she had to pull away.

“Toni! It’s 3 am! Way past your bedtime!” Toni blushed slightly.

“I guess you have to go then,” Shelby said, making them sound like highschoolers once again.

“Yeah. Mom’s calling I guess,” Toni chuckled. They leant in for a short kiss before being interrupted once again.

“Toni! I have no idea where you are but we need to fucking go or I’m locking you out!”

“Okay I really have to go now,” she said. 

“Just one more,” Shelby whispered against Toni’s lips, and they shared a final kiss of the night.

Toni turned around and put her feet on the rungs of the ladder.

“Toni, don’t forget your jacket,” Shelby said, taking it off.

“Keep it, you look cute in it,” she said, making Shelby melt. “Oh, and tell Dot she owes me 5 bucks.” Shelby laughed loudly causing Toni to look confused at her.

“Nothing it’s just,” Shelby stated, “I have a feeling we bet on the same thing,” They smiled at each other widely. 

“Toni! We’re going now so you’re gonna have to run to keep up with us!” came Fatin’s call.

“Well,” Shelby said, “See you up on the mountain. Goodnight Toni,”

“Night, Shelb,” with that, Toni ducked below the roof and threw her an exaggerated wink

“You really are going to be the death of me,” Shelby muttered to herself. She looked up at the sky one last time before reaching for her phone and reading Dot’s ‘ _ where are you?’ _ text.  _ I’m gonna sleep on the roof tonight _ she sent back. She chuckled, wondering if Toni knew she took her to her own cabin.  _ Gimme 5, I’ll be up _ . 

True to her word, Dot was on the roof after 5 minutes. “So how’d it go?” Shelby smiled.

“Well you owe us both 5 bucks,” Dot smiled widely at her. 

“You 2 are both so money-driven it’s insane. Can’t believe it took me $10 to get you to kiss,”

They fell asleep quickly, with Dot’s duvet draped over the pair, and the 2 bears, great and small, in the sky watching over them.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by https://h0emo.tumblr.com/post/640054657893416960/bet-but-mines-only-gunna-be-a-one-shot-i-dont  
> this Tumblr post


End file.
